The article challenges the notion that women are safer drivers than men saying drivers aren’t defined by their gender alone. There is so much going on in the moment of a collision that it seems highly disingenuous to point an accusing finger at either gender.

The write of the post makes this rallying call:

“So during NRSW and on International Men’s Day, rather than glaring accusingly at one gender or another, perhaps we should draw alternative, bolder lines.

“Rather than considering that either gender might make for the worse drivers, how about instead we just differentiate between “Good Drivers” and “Bad Drivers”?”

Highlight some of the mental health inequalities that men and boys experience

Promotion the theme of international men’s day

Highlight the help available to men take care of their mental and emotional well-being.

Sussex Partnership provides NHS mental health services in Sussex, Brighton and Hove and across the south east. The Trust has set up men’s groups to give men the opportunity to explore their health issues, and gain support from others.

Kate Bones, Director of Occupational Therapy at Sussex Partnership, said, “People do not realise that men tend to be less healthy in terms of their mental wellbeing than women. We need to make sure they have access to information to help lead healthy lives.”

One of the ways men can help themselves, says the trust, is by using the Recovery ROCK – an on-line resource and directory of community groups including many which support men specifically.

ROCK is an interactive hub of information which people can search. It puts people in control and gives them the information they need to plan their lives and how they want to maintain their health.

ROCK – it stands for Recovery Oriented Community Kit – was conceived, designed and developed entirely within Sussex Partnership. It includes:

A directory of social inclusion and recovery services

A toolkit to help people set personal goals and, using the directory, plan activities to help them maintain their wellbeing

The ability to change and add entries to keep the resource right up to date

Arup, an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists, celebrated International Men’s Day at its offices in Solihull.

Sarah Maddox who co-ordinated the celebrations said:

“International Men’s Day is recognised as a moment to highlight the contributions and progress of men, working together with women, to make educational, economic, social and technological advances in society.

“The theme was Men’s Health and informative literature was available to highlight any male health related issues. Phil Jeremiah (a coach and motivational speaker) came along to remind us all of the importance to “chill” and let the stress out of your body and mind.”

Thanks to Christopher Flux from Men Against Violence (MAV) who ran an event for International Men’s Day in Preston. Advertised as ‘REAL MEN an exploration of masculinity and male identity’ this event aimed to look at a whole range of men’s issues from mental health and boys education to the high rate of men as both perpetrators and victims of violent crime.

In the run up to the event Chris’s team held an informal vote for ‘Man of the Year 2012’ in their university’s Students Union. Barack Obama narrowly pipped Bradley Wiggins to the honour, though David Dickinson did better than Sir Chris Hoy and Mo Farrah combined!

The event examined how narrow male gender stereotypes often are and looked at the depiction of men in food and alcohol advertising, sometimes with a tongue-in-cheek ideas of maleness being part of the brand concept itself. (i.e Yorkie, HP Sauce, Budweiser).

From this light-hearted look at gender, things moved on to addressing more serious issues with a group discussion on topics such as men’s health, the high prevalence of men as both perpetrators and victims of violence, boys struggling in school and male suicide.

Other highlights included a guest speaker who is a local youth worker and (relatively) new dad to speak about his life, his work and men who have had a positive influence on his life. He talked at times with light-hearted humour, but went on to give a heartfelt and moving account of the relationship with the most important male influence on his life- his father – who sadly passed away last year.

Congratulations for Chris and his team for successfully delivering their first International Men’s Day team – you can read a longer review on the MAV blog.

If you have any experiences of you International Men’s Day in the UK you’d like to share with us please send the to glen@themenensnetwork.org.uk.

In Preston a group called Men Against Violence put their focus on violence against women and girls while in Leeds The Chris Worfolk Foundation announced the launch of a new men’s issues campaign raising awareness of issues facing men and boys in the areas of health, education, employment and family.

From an organizational perspective, International Men’s Day in the UK launched a new brand and was overseen by a team of co-ordinators for the first time laying a solid foundation for further growth in 2013.

The increased popularity of the day was marked by a record number of visits to the International Men’s Day UK blog which at one point yesterday was ranked as the second fastest growing blog on WordPress.

This was due in no small part to the huge popularity of our list on the Top 10 Men’s Issues based on an online survey conducted by the IMD UK team.

The Guardian article reviewed the National Conference for Men and Boys which is now an annual event that takes place every year at the beginning of November in the run up to International Men’s Day and as such is a flagship event for the IMD UK team.

Thanks to all who supported the day if you held an event and want to let us know or if you want to get involved in celebrating International Men’s Day 0n 19th November 2013 then please contact us today.

The petition aims to address the barriers men with eating disorders are faced when approaching help at the point of access and in treatment services. MGEDT is calling on the government to make key changes in policy and delivery levels so male sufferers are able to seek the support they need.